How Do You Know If You're High?

We’re in an exciting moment in the struggle to end cannabis prohibition as Canada, states across the U.S., and countries around the world have begun embracing recreational and medicinal legalization. This being the case, there are a lot of people who are out there smoking marijuana for their first time. So that begs the question – how do you know when you’re high?

It might seem like a silly question to those of you who are experienced, but when you’re first starting out remember that you had more questions than answers. And even the most seasoned of stoners occasionally find themselves smoking or ingesting some sort of weed product only to sit around wondering if they got burned (by which I mean ripped off) when the effect is weak or slow to come.

So let’s take a look at how to know if you’re high.

How to Know If You’re High

For a lot of people, the first smoking experience is a letdown as they don’t seem to feel anything. This is common, as many first-time smokers don’t know to inhale all the way into their lungs.

But let’s assume you’ve puffed properly. Here are a few signs that you’re high:

Your senses seem altered.

If light is a little too bright, color a little more vivid, music more musical, or whatever, you might be high. Let’s put it this way – do the snozzberries taste like snozzberries? If the answer is “yes”, you’re smoking correctly.

You feel a physical change.

Marijuana tends to provide a very physical high. That might mean your body feels lighter and more nimble. Or maybe you feel heavier, and slowed down. Or maybe you’re experiencing a kind of pulsing buzz throughout your body. Whatever the case, you’ll almost certainly feel physically altered.

Time becomes…funny.

What do I mean by “funny”? Perhaps you find yourself hyper-focused on an activity, only to look up and realize that an inordinate amount of time has passed. Or just the opposite – a task that seems like it should have taken longer seems to fly by.

Giggles.

If suddenly everything seems funny, you are probably high.

Emotional shift.

Sudden, difficult to define emotional shifts can be a sign that you’re high. Maybe you’re having a perfectly normal conversation, but then someone says something that makes you feel a bit weird and a long, uncomfortable pause ensues? Don’t worry, it happens all the time.

Confusion.

Simple tasks become less simple. Here’s a test – go to the bank, try to perform a normal interaction with the teller, and if you find yourself unsure of the steps (Slide my card now? Or do they need a signature? What did she just say? Did I already hand over the money? And so on.), you might be high.

They’re a real thing. If you have the sudden urge to eat everything, it’s a sign.

Relaxation.

The biggest sign that you’re high is often a sense of total relaxation – all you want to do is chill. You don’t worry about anything, and you don’t understand why other people are worried about anything. You don’t feel like doing any work, or sometimes even recreation. All you want to do is kick back and relax.

A marijuana high is a pretty individual experience that is different for everyone, so you might not notice some of these. And there might be other effects that I haven’t mentioned.

The bottom line – look for unusual change. If you smoke or ingest marijuana or any other substance, for that matter, you usually know if you’re high based on the changes that happen subsequent to consumption.